Optimizing the Limited Resources for More Efficiency in Teacher Development Programs in China

1-15 ZHOU Yan 大会发言提要                          http://www.fltrp.com/newsdetail.cfm?iCntno=23362
2007-04-26 15:20:34
1-15
SUNDAY,3:00PM—4:00 PM, AUDITORIUM
ZHOU Yan
北京外国语大学中国外语教育研究中心 Prof. of Beijing Froeign Studies University, China
Optimizing the Limited Resources for More Efficiency in Teacher Development Programs in China
This paper presents findings from a research project on “Models of Development for University Teachers of English in China” funded by China Academy of Social Sciences. The project started with a nation-wide survey on teachers’ needs for professional development followed by a series of descriptive and exploratory studies on the existing teacher development programs in China, namely a summer institute, the Visiting-Scholar Program, an MA course in teacher education and a case study for teachers’ growth in practice.
Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in the study of these in-service teacher development models. The survey has found a great demand for professional development from among university teachers of English with different background. However, teachers vary greatly in their proclaimed needs, with teaching methodology, theories of linguistics and basic language skills as the most interested subjects and educational theories and research methods being the last on the list. The survey revealed a discrepancy between teachers’ perceived needs and their actual needs in teaching which projected a dilemma many teachers had to face nowadays between the professional needs and the promotion requirement. The difference between teachers’ claimed belief in learning-centered teaching and their stated classroom activities showed a delay in teachers’ action after their theoretical acceptance to modern beliefs. It calls for more efforts in developing teachers’ pedagogical competence that may serve to help teachers translate their belief into classroom practice.
Teachers were found to have different needs at various stage of their professional development. No single teacher education program could adequately address the needs of all teachers, however comprehensive the curriculum may be. While experienced teachers were found to benefit more from the Visiting Scholar program, young teachers seemed to stand a better chance for development in a supportive teaching community under the guidance of more experienced teachers. A project-based teaching community proved to be conducive for teachers to develop positive interactions among themselves and with their students, which turned out to be the driving force for teachers to keep improving themselves in action.
A case study for formal training in modern educational concepts as a required MA course had confirmed the importance of beliefs as the foundation of teachers’ professional development. Since many teachers of English in China had hardly any access to such MA courses, it was suggested that more theme-based short-term teacher development programs should be designed and provided to address the various needs of the teachers in the different stages of their development..
The project has found that while existing programs under study have proven their legitimate roles in teacher development in China, vigorous coordination and better differentiation are necessary to bring out each of its best for the need of different target groups. A tentative model has been proposed to promote efficiency in professional development for teachers of English in the Chinese context.
Key words: teachers’ need; professional development; theme-based teacher development program
Professor ZHOU Yan is currently working as a research fellow at the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education based at Beijing Foreign Studies University, China. She received her MA in Sociology at the University of Missouri, USA in 1985 and her Ph.D. in Educational Foundations at Dalhousie University, Canada in 1997. Her research interests include foreign language education, teacher development, curriculum reform etc. She has published in the areas of language education and teacher development.